i have had two abortions, 18 years apart. in between that time, i also had a child with my ex-husband, who is now ten years old (and a wonderful kid!).the first abortion i had was in 1995; i was 19, in college, and realized i was pregnant by my long distance boyfriend. although i had been raised in a very conservative, christian environment, once i found out i was pregnant, i instantly knew abortion was the right decision for me. luckily, i lived in seattle, and access to safe and affordable care was abundant. i did not tell my family; indeed, the only people who knew at the time were my boyfriend, best friend, and her mother. even now i think it is a shame that my relationship with my own mother is such that i could not (and still will not) reveal this to her.

fast forward to 2012. during the intervening years, i had gotten married, had a child, lived life; then gotten divorced, and had recently ended a very serious relationship. i had just embarked on what turned out to be a very serious relationship, but at the time we had been together only a handful of months. i was 35, my boyfriend 44; both professional (he is a dentist, i work in finance), mature, “together” people. i was very far from the scared 19 year old i was the first time around, but i still knew im世界杯2022亚洲预选赛b组 tely that the best option for me was an abortion. i elected a surgical abortion. i told no one about it except for my boyfriend (who fully supported me) and a close friend. i went alone to my appointment and alone to the procedure (my boyfriend had patients to take care of); i elected minimal anesthesia so that i could drive myself home afterward. i took one day off of work. i was fine. like most women who have abortions, i felt an overwhelming sense of relief after the procedure. i also, though, felt disappointed in myself for not taking enough control of my own body to prevent the pregnancy (i was on birth control pills, but hated them; i took them erratically) when i knew better.

i have eased up on myself since then. i was very lucky in that i again had ready access to safe medical care; and extremely lucky in that my health insurance covered the abortion procedure 100% as well as the iud that i had inserted during the procedure.

i am now married to the man who was my new boyfriend. we are very happy with our child and stepchild (we each have one son). i do not regret the decisions i made. i do regret the fact that our country is limiting access to abortions for women in many states, and i also wish i was brave enough to attach my name to this story. i wish there was not a stigma associated with abortion. but hopefully my story will show someone that anyone can end up with an untenable pregnancy, and every woman should have access to a safe abortion if she needs one.